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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 14, Issue 727, 18 October 1869, Page 2

We have been informed that some si? pounds of stone from a new district onl\ nine miles from Shoitland, was tested yesterday in a private berdan, and gave the magnificent yield of over four ounces of gold to the pound of stone. Thames Times, sth Oct. Ladies are about to be admitted to the privileges of Odd Fellowship in Victoria A. correspondent of a Melbourne paper writes that some months ago the Ancient Order of Odd Fellows in that colony affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in America, the latter ol which number 2G0.00U members, many of whom occupy a high position in the social and political world. In the new ritual introduced by the American order there is what is termed the " Degree of Kebekah," conferred only on the wives of members A lodge in connexion with this degree has recently been formed in Ballarat, and will be opened in the third week of this month, for the purpose of initiating the wives of members into Ihe mysteries thereof; and as this is the first occasion on which ladies have been privileged to become practically acqainted with Odd Fellowship, it is expected that a very large number will avail themselves of the opportunity. Already a large number have signified their intention of coming from Sebastopol,

AaBIC.ULTUBiX, —The weather, so f a 7 has been everything that can be desired by the farmers and market-gardeners of the Hufct Valley, and the early crops of potatoes, peas, cabbages, &c, are coming on remarkably well. Much less rain than usual has fallen this spring, and that pri n . oinally in gentle. showers ; indeed, the violent gales, so common at this season have been hitherto few and far between', The early crops last year were in most eases a failure, and we can but rejoice at and congratulate agriculturists on so good a prospect, now. —Wellington Independent 7th October. '

We find the following in a late numbep of the Ballarat Courier :—" Castles in the air are common enough, but ships do nofc often find their way into the aerial region. Yet on Wednesday evening people walking about the etreets in Ballarat were startled by seeing a full-rigged ship spudding be. fore the wind in close proximity to the moon. Masts, yards, sails, booms, and much other paraphernalia incidental to a goodly sized ship could be clearly discern, able in this situation. Those changes for which "earth's canopy" is soon, however, destroyed the phenomenon, which was then seen to have consisted of a cloud only. The resemblance to a ship was certainly very distinct while the cloud was passing near Diana the chaste." Judging from the following paragraph from a recent issue of the West Coast Times, the burgesses of Hokitika may well be proud of their representatives in the Borough Council. Our contemporary says: —" We are compelled to hold over pur report of the proceedings of the Borough Council, and are sorry that we are so compelled, for the Council on this occasion ex. ceeded all their previous efforts to bring themselves into coutempt The Mayor was absent, and for nearly four hours there was scarcely anything but wrangling and personal abuse. Charges of 'log rol. ling' and 'incapacity' were brought against the old Council by Mr Hawkins, but having a wholesome fear of the law of libel, we do not give the instance of log-rolling he gave. From that sprang the quarrel, and a pretty one it was. The following are some of the elegant expressions used: —'l won't be shut up by you, sir—by aoy red tape, white tape, or calico man'; and the gentlemanly retort, —' Well, all { can say is, that you cannot squeeze a sanguinary fluid out of a domestic vegetable that eats well with boiled mutton ; I mean to say, sir, that you cannot get blood out of a turnip.'"

The Thames (3-oi.d Fields. —A correspondent who has had considerable experience on both the Victorian and New Zealand gold-fields, writes as follows to the Grrejrnouth Evening Star regarding the Thames diggings:—" This Thames rush is not a storekeeper's rush, nor a duffer's rush. It has got quartz reefs, and some f«tw of them very rich, although not so rich by a long way as lias been circular ted about them. The Thames rush may be caled, as indeed it is called by man?, a sharebroker's and general swindler's :ush, There are several hundreds of companies in existence. The locality of many of these alleged quartz reefs is not even known to the shareholders. They don't want to know. They know there is no gold. Al{ they want js to sell their scrip to the first flat they can catch. Four-fifths of the of the companies which have been rushed into existence never produced an ounce of gold, and never will. The amount of paidup capital in these mines is all moonshine. There is not a sixpence in the £ in hard cash. It is a gigantic bubble, and when it bursts, as very soon it must thousands and thousands will find themsehes ruined, swindled, robbed, or beggared. If some of these sharebrokeis—men, not a few of them notorious police-characters —are not yet lynched, or and feathered, it is strange to nae. Do not let any of the flourishing reports you hear about Auck* iand induce any of you to leave Gre} mouth if you pan only make a living and hold your own." The Westla.nd Embezzlement Case. —ln passing sentence on George Winter, late County Treasurer of West land, who. pleaded guilty at the sitting of the Uoki-. tika Circuit Court to four indictments, charging him with embezzling £1047 I7s> Mr Justice .Richmond is reported to have said : —" Tours is a case, one of a class in which no judge can proceed, tq pass sentence without a, feeling of acute pain. It is a pain, however, which is in your instance, to some degree tempered by indignation. You stand there silf-convicted of having abused the highest pecuniary trust in the place. You have brought shame. not only upon yourself and yours, but upon the official' class to which you have belonged ; upon the'social circle in which you moved. .Not only this, but you have shaken that confidence which should exiafi between governed and those that govern; you have shaken public confidence; you tiave cast suspicion on social respectability] you stand there a great social scandal. I teel totally unable to yield to those pleas that have been urged in your favor, and I feel bound by my sentence to mark roj sense of the gravity of the offence. How* ever, while the fact of your position, your, education, adds to your crime, there is no doubt that because of. that position and that education, the punishment that it will be the duty of the Court to inflict will foil upon you with terrible weight. Youc habits, inclinations, and tastes*, will ">*ke the discipline of a jail doubly irksome to, you, and your mind will be racked so that the sentence, which you must feel to oe severe, will be light compared to tdiat. Without further comment I pass the sen*. tence of the Court upon you, which is that you be kept in penal eeryitude for-W? Bpace of three years."